I unashamedly believe that pastor’s must not simply take a position on the critical issues facing our culture, but must be ready and willing to stand up and speak up. It is no longer adequate or acceptable to merely espouse a view, or be a “silent witness” on these issues. What is critical to the defense of life, and the preservation of traditional marriage and family is the vocal support by America’s pastors and Christians.

As we all know, it is the “squeaky wheel that gets the oil.” And while Christians have been trying to live “squeaky clean” lives of silent apathy, a very vocal minority has made advancements in their immoral agenda that leave us shaking our heads. What do we expect when we refuse to engage in the conversations or take action? If no one is willing to oppose their godless agenda we can only expect to endure further erosion of the biblical values and beliefs that made this country great.

Personally, I feel a burden not simply to stand or be vocal, but to be a watchman on the wall sounding the alarm to rouse Christians and churches to action. Part of this burden comes in the form of realizing that if we don’t speak others will be glad to speak for us. And for the record, I’m not a big fan of letting others insert words into my mouth, or my faith.

Take this woman for example. She is a self-described Christian that is really irritated that a pre-school graduation ceremony included what has been described as an “overtly Christian prayer.” On top of it all this “professing Christian” partnered with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist organization, to send a letter to the school district asking them to stop praying at their ceremonies.

Here I am working diligently with groups like the Family Policy Council of West Virginia, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Family Research Council to preserve these religious freedoms for Christians across America. Yet this woman, speaking for Christians, is helping our opposition to strip our freedoms in the name of atheism.

Even more disturbing is a pastor that recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post decrying the tradition of standing to sing “God Bless America” at baseball games! Yes, you read that correctly, this is a “pastor” that finds it extremely annoying that people “are forced” to stand and sing “God Bless America” during the course of the game.

Dennis Prager penned a line by line response to this minister’s absurd objection that I highly commend to you. Suffice it to say Prager disagreed stringently with the good reverends objections. As a pastor I simply cannot think of a solid reason to oppose such a tradition. On the surface it is a beautiful paring of church and state that reminds us just how deeply rooted our nation has been in God’s Word and the faith of the American people. As a Christian it’s exciting to hear so many people sing a song that is in many ways a prayer of thanks and petition of blessing on our land. As an American it brings great pride to know this country was indeed blessed by God because we were founded on His Word.

Yet this “pastor” is speaking for us all as he tells the nation that this “empty ritual” is annoying and should cease. Worse still is the fact that he purports to speak from a biblical perspective, an “authority” on God’s Word that weekly leads a congregation. Again, his remarks will further embolden our opposition in their desire for a society that completely segregates expressions of faith from the public sector.

What is curious about this account is that the pastor is really concerned for the “secular humanist” attending the baseball game. He asks, “What does the good secular humanist do during this song?” I say this is interesting because in the first account a self-professing Christian elicits the help of an atheist organization to oppose prayer at a school graduation. And here, a pastor seems more concerned with making secular humanists comfortable at baseball games than in preserving American traditions and religious freedom.

I would say to the pastor, you ought to be more concerned with the eternal soul of the secular humanist than in whether or not he is uncomfortable singing “God Bless America.” What better way to start a conversation that can lead to the Gospel than with a song rooted in the protection and blessing of Almighty God. This pastor apparently has his priorities off-center (they seem a bit left-center).

Perhaps the most disturbing account comes from Iowa where a group of religious professors are arguing that the Bible actually supports multiple types of marriage rather than the traditional one man one woman version. In a recent interview the trio of professors argued a biblical “argument against same-sex marriage is wholly unsustainable. We all know this, but very few scholars are talking about it, because they don’t want to take the heat.”

Ironically, the group makes flimsy arguments that would be shredded if they served them to leading scholars of the Bible such as Ravvi Zacharias, William Lane Craig, or Norm Geisler. But the point remains that these “biblical scholars” are speaking on behalf of all Bible scholars and pastors. By speaking they have been able to insert their flawed beliefs into the discussion and undermine the foundation we seek to create.

So pastor’s, Christians, the decision is yours. You’re free to continue in silence, refusing to preach or teach on these critical issues that continue to be discussed all around you. Just know that if you make such a decision there is plenty of people willing to speak up boldly in your name. Also be aware of the fact that we will continue to lose discussions and watch our rights be stripped as this vocal minority gains steam due to our silence.

My encouragement to you is to actively teach your congregations how to engage these discussions with the people around them from a biblical perspective. Teach grace, truth, and love. Because as we see from the example of Christ, we must be willing to love people so much that we will risk offending them for the sake of biblical truth.

For me, I’m not willing to sit by and allow someone to speak for me; especially when the people speaking are saying things so inconsistent with Scripture and patently false that they will serve to lead others astray.